


Home Isn't Always What You Expect It To Be

by SmolKlanceMood



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Radio, Bilingual Lance, Bilingual Shiro (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), F/F, F/M, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gay Shiro (Voltron), How Does A Radio Station Work, I Added Characters But That's Why It's An AU, I Can't Name Chapters So Yeet, I Don't Know When I'll Be Posting On Anything, I Hope I'm Right, I apologise, I don't know, I'm Probably Wrong Lol, I'm Sorry, Implied/Referenced Suicide, It's Mild I Swear, Keith & Shiro (Voltron) are Adoptive Siblings, Kosmo Is A Good Boy Even Though He Isn't Mentioned Very Often, Lance (Voltron) Deserves Better, Lance (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, M/M, Minor Matt Holt/Shiro, Pansexual Matt Holt, Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), Well actually he can speak three languages but oh well?, i don't know how to tag, i think, inconsistent updates, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2018-11-20
Packaged: 2019-08-26 07:59:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 19,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16677688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmolKlanceMood/pseuds/SmolKlanceMood
Summary: At the sound of home, you might think of your mom and dad, or home cooked meals, or your siblings. These are examples of what you might call, "Home," but for me, home isn't any of these things.They say less is more, and I fully agree. I may not have much, but what I have is more than I could ever ask for.





	1. Welcome to The Coffee Talk!

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so Google translate isn't super accurate and I used it for a little bit of this chapter, so if there's any grammatical mistakes or anything I apologize!

"And we're on!" Lance exclaimed in his sing-song radio show host voice. “Good morning, and welcome to The Coffee Talk! Now, just who do we have the pleasure of talking to this fine morning?"

A voice that sounded like it was coming from someone about 13 or 14 answered. "Hi, I'm Katie."

"Welcome, Katie! You're our first caller of the day!"

"Sweet." Katie didn't sound all that excited. 

"Now, why’d you call us today, Katie?" Lance grinned and looked at me, and almost laughed at my emotionless expression. He caught himself in time to hear the caller responding to his question.

"I just wanted to suggest that you play some other music besides new-age rap and Britney Spears."

Katie had a good point, in my opinion. Lance had chosen the tunes for the show, and his taste in music was horrible.

"Now let me tell you something, Katie- Can I call you Pidge?”

“Sure, why not.” Katie, again, sounded unimpressed.

“So Pidge, what music do you suggest we play instead?”

"Have you ever heard of The Wombats?" 

I wasn't the person answering the calls that day, unfortunately, so I didn't get the chance to tell Katie that I'd heard of them before. I actually enjoyed a lot of their music, and I was about to express this to Lance before he continued the conversation. "I haven’t, but I’ll tell you what. How about I add your suggestion to a playlist, and as soon as we get enough people to suggest songs, I’ll play it?”

I could hear Katie’s new excitement through the phone."Sure, sounds great.” Katie kept surprisingly calm for someone who’s just been told that their suggested music is going to be playing on the radio.

"Awesome! We’ll try to play some of The Wombats in the future, but for now, have a wonderful day, and we hope you enjoy The Coffee Talk!" Lance sounded like an automated voice recording of himself, saying the all-familiar jingle, but more than anything he sounded annoying.

We both slipped off our headphones, and Lance hit a button on the control panel that played the standard track of horrible music. "How’d I do?"

"You sounded arrogant, if I'm being honest." I replied, sipping my tea. It was ironic to be drinking tea on a radio show called, "The Coffee Talk", but I didn't like coffee and tea was my only way of getting the caffeine I needed to get through the day. And besides, it tasted good.

Lance scoffed at me, putting a fake shocked expression on his face, "rUde!" He was being more irritating than usual today, but I just had to suck it up and deal with it.

I smirked and looked out the window. We were on the 24th floor of a 50-story complex, and the view was incredible. That is, if you're not afraid of heights. I looked away and replied to Lance.

"Well, you asked me a question and I answered it, what more do you expect?"

Lance laughed, thinking I was joking. "I wasn't expecting anything more or less, I guess."

"I think that's the smartest thing you've said today." I said, giving Lance a smug look. "Good job."

"Oh fuck off." Lance laughed. This time I was kidding, and luckily he knew that I was just making a joke. 

"Hey, we're on the air in three, two-"  
I put on my pair of headphones quickly, mentally preparing myself to talk.

"Welcome back to The Coffee Talk, where we talk about Coffee, shoes, and all the latest news!" I hated saying the intro, but I knew that it was better off with me saying it. Lance couldn't control his emotions well enough to say the intro with a straight face. Technically, neither of us could, but I was better at it than him.

"It is currently 8:35 on this beautiful, sunny Friday morning." I started, going on with the weather report. "The forecast shows that there is a 40% chance of rain, with temperatures averaging at approximately 73 degrees." I flipped a page of paper in front of me to show the rest of the predicted weather for that day. 

"The high is an average of 85 degrees, and the low being 69." Lance wiggled his eyebrows at me, and I looked at him, unimpressed, as he continued the weather report.

"Wind speeds are predicted to be around two to three miles an hour, better hold onto your hats!"

God, his jokes were pathetic, but I knew it would probably brighten someone's day, so I kept my mouth shut.

"Going into the city rush, the traffic isn't as bad as it usually is at this time of day." he stated casually, flipping through the pages upon pages of traffic reports and news updates. "With no reported accidents yet, traffic is flowing smoothly throughout the main highways, with some slight backups on Main street and Bob's Boulevard." 

With his traffic report reaching its end, I started talking again."And on other news, Ash Brownridge, the creator of Ranger Rick, has unfortunately passed away today at 98 years old.” I didn’t really know what Ranger Rick was, but judging by Lance’s face I could tell that he probably did.

“That was a great magazine.” Lance continued, and I nodded solemnly, still not knowing what he was talking about. 

“Continuing on with the news report that we really aren’t qualified for,” Lance laughed and covered his mouth. I guess some of my jokes are funny. “Same-sex marriage has just been legalized, which means my chances of getting married have skyrocketed!”

I stopped and fixed my posture with almost with enough force to lift me onto my feet. Had I really just said that? I jerked my head to look at Lance, and his face was as red as the shirt he was wearing. 

"Wait, oh fuck." I shut off my microphone immediately after everything had sunk in. He looked up at me, and turned back to the control panel in front of him. He pressed a button to start counting down a soundtrack, and quickly said, “Sorry folks, we’ll be right back. But for now, sit tight, relax, and enjoy the show.” He pressed one more button and said, “This is for Pidge, our first caller of the day.” With that, he shut off his microphone and took his headphones off.

He stared at me for what felt like a lifetime, and I awkwardly sipped my tea.

“Keith, W-whasjdkdkd?” Lance didn’t make any really comprehensible words, his question was like if you slammed your hands on a keyboard and played it through google translate. He muttered something under his breath that I didn’t understand, and then looked back towards me. 

“What?” That seemed to be the only word he could say at the moment, and I understood him entirely. At least he had one comprehensible word running through his brain.

“¡¿Qué quieres decir con que tus posibilidades de casarse se han disparado?!” He exclaimed, not realizing that he wasn’t speaking English.

“What?” I only understood a little bit of spanish, and at the speed he was talking I couldn’t understand any of it.

“¿Qué quieres decir con que-” He stopped, finally realizing that I couldn’t understand what he was saying, and he took a minute to switch back to English. “What do you mean your chances of getting married have skyrocketed?!” His expression showed extreme confusion, lined with a thin layer of disbelief.

I looked at him, not knowing how to answer. He seemingly understood, and he got even redder in the face as he fully realized what I meant. He turned back to the control panel and started putting on his headphones. 

"You don't have to put on the headphones right now, I'll cover you." He balanced his headphones on the top of his head, now looking at me. "Just try to come back when you can."

I nodded, and he put his pair of headphones completely on, continuing the show and answering the multitudes of calls that were coming in. I kept my microphone off, but used my headphones to listen in on the calls.

A lot of the conversations had to do with what I had said earlier, and I set my head down on my crossed arms in embarrassment as I listened to the conversations Lance was having with people asking about me.

I had to appreciate Lance, he was supporting me and defending me in all the phone calls, and although it seemed we had lost quite a few listeners that day, he didn't make a big deal about it. After the first hour or so of him having to answer the mix of supportive and homophobic phone calls, I signaled for him to make that the last call, not prepared to turn on the microphone yet.

He finished the call and hung up the phone, putting on more music. "We will be back in two minutes after this next song plays. We’ll see you in a little bit, and as always, thank you for listening to The Coffee Talk!" He pressed the button, and turned in his chair to face me again.

"You ready to go?" He asked with an upbeat smile on his face. Despite all the particularly bigoted and rude people who he had had to talk to in the hour he had spent answering calls, his attitude didn't show that he'd been dealing with rude people at all. His happy persona helped me feel less embarrassed at what had just happened.

"Ready as I'll ever be." I replied, our daily mantra, even though I was only about as ready as I would be in that moment. He understood, and pressed the button to signal the finishing song before we spoke. I turned on my microphone again, and he started.

"Five, four, three, two-" He grinned at me as the timer signaled that we were on the air, and he started talking. "Welcome back to The Coffee Talk! I would just like to express another huge 'Thank You' to all you lovely listeners who have been patient with us today." He paused, and I took that time to talk, despite my nerves.

"Yeah, thank you so much to the people who have been listening to us, I'm sorry about that slight inconvenience, but I'm back now."

I cringed at my seemingly horrible re-entry, but Lance gave me a thumbs up. "If any of you amazing people want to give us a call and suggest more songs to play, we will still gladly take your request!"

The new thing today had been switching off the talking, so I continued off of what Lance had said. "Like what we did for Katie this morning, if you text or call the number 1-669-221-6251 we will be sure to play your song request."

Lance continued as I signaled that I was done talking for the time being. "Thank you Keith, and as always, thank you for listening to The Coffee Talk, where we talk about Coffee, shoes, and all the latest news!" Lance's face turned red again as he tried desperately not to laugh, and he coughed and continued the outro. "It's currently 11:00 here on The Coffee Talk, and we'll catch you again, live, at 12!"

At that, he pressed a combination of buttons that would play a series of songs, commercials, and recordings of our voices reminding you of the station you were listening to. "So, where do you want to go for lunch?"

"I'll go wherever." I responded, taking off my headphones and standing up from my chair. We both walked towards the door, and I grabbed my wallet and cell phone as he waited in the hallway to lock the door.


	2. Sushi Run

. I didn't know where he was going; we usually took a left from the building to the sandwich shop a couple blocks down, but this time Lance and I took a right.

"Where are we going?" I looked up at Lance, trying not to pay attention to the looks I was getting from some people as we walked. I really shouldn't have slipped up like that, but for the most part it wasn't unbearable. I could deal with a couple unapproving glares.

"You'll see." It was now Lance's turn to smirk, and I gave him a smug look back, even though I had no reason to. I was still at a slight loss for words, but I had gotten good at communicating to people with facial expressions. 

We walked three blocks down from the building; crossing one street, taking a right, and then a left. When we finally stopped, we were outside of a small sushi place called Olkari. It was a cute-looking shop, with little flowers and bamboo fountains in the front. Lance pulled me inside, and I heard a familiar voice greet us in.

"Hi, welcome to Olkari," The woman was slightly shorter than me, probably about 5'3. She didn't look older than 15, and she smiled at the two of us. "Table for two?"

Lance looked at me and shrugged. "Sure, why not? Can't hurt to eat here instead of in the studio." He laughed lightly to himself and we followed the waitress to the table.

She introduced herself as she set down the menus on the table. 

"I'm Katie, and I'll be taking your orders today." My mind flashed back to this morning, and I snapped my fingers.

"Hey, you're the caller from this morning!" I said it a lot louder than I should've, I saw people turn to look at me, and I quieted my voice. "Sorry,"

"That's alright." Katie laughed and got out her notepad. "Can I get you guys anything besides water?"

I opened the menu and looked at the drink options, which were a combination of alcohol and fruity mixed drinks. I flipped to the back and decided to look at the kid's menu drinks instead. 

As I was choosing between root beer and fanta, Lance ordered some drink I had never heard of before. She nodded and asked for Lance's ID, which let me know he was ordering something with alcohol. He did a quick double take and asked for just a water, still getting his ID out. Lance wasn't the type of person to drink alcohol in a public setting, he and I both knew he had an extremely low tolerance for it. 

She laughed and smiled, writing his order down. "What about you?" She asked kindly. She sounded much different than she did on the phone, but now I could clearly hear the similarities.

"Yeah, I'll get a root beer, please." I said politely, and she wrote my order down as well.

"Alrighty, I'll be right back with your drink." She replied cheerily, and her happiness seemed to fill the room. Lance was flipping through the menu and sipping his water, occasionally asking me whether one roll sounded better than another. I was willing to eat just about anything, so I told him to just pick what he wanted. He ended up ordering two rolls; one had lemon and the other had fried shrimp in it. 

Katie came back with my drink and wrote the two rolls we wanted down, and as she left again Lance started messing with one of the sugar packets. 

"What is this even made of?" He asked to no one. "It's sweetener but it doesn't have sugar in it..?"

I laughed, but not wanting to make Lance feel embarrassed I covered my mouth with the back of one hand, as if I was about to push one of many tameless locks of hair out of my face. My hands were cold to the touch, so I slid them into my sleeves in an attempt to warm them. "Have you ever heard of stevia?" I gave Lance a small smile and rubbed my hands together. The sleeves of my jacket had little to no insulation, so they did nothing to warm my hands any.

"Yeah, isn't that a plant or something?" He didn't look up from the unopened sugar packet.

"Yeah, a lot of companies that make sweetener like that use stevia." I ran a hand through my hair, trying to think of the other things my mom told me about artificial sugar. "I think they sometimes create sugar in labs and factories to use instead of that, but I'm not really sure."

Lance looked at me, his facial expression slightly disgusted. "You mean they put chemicals in the sugar?"

"Not exactly, I don't really know how it works." I reached out for one of the packets to examine myself. It was an ordinary Splenda packet, and it looked innocent enough. "I'm not sure I want to know how it works."

"Fair enough." We both put the sugar packets back where they were. It was awkward, having nothing to talk about, but Lance had a knack for making things not awkward. He almost always had something to talk about, and he was excellent at his social skills.

"Hey, I know this song." He said, starting to dance in his seat. I laughed and listened to what was playing through the speakers, and as the last chords died out and voices started talking, I started laughing harder. "This is our station, no wonder you know the song." I tied my hair back in a ponytail. It was starting to get staticky from me pushing it back so much, and it usually got in the way for meals and stuff.

Lance's eyes widened, and he listened more intently than he had before. As soon as he realized that I wasn't kidding, he sat down in his seat and acted as if nothing happened.

"Our voices sound a lot different over the radio," he said under his breath as Katie came back with our orders. I thanked Katie for our food and commented to Lance about how fast the service was. I was glad we came here.

While we were halfway eating, Katie came back to ask how the food was. We both gave a thumbs up, since our mouths were full, and she turned to me as I finished chewing my food.

"Hey, I was listening earlier when you- well, you know." She said quietly, looking around to make sure nobody was listening. There were only a couple other people in the small restaurant, and none of them had even noticed us.

"Yeah, I know." I mumbled, turning red and taking a sip of my root beer. I really didn't want to talk about it, but I knew I would have to at some point.

"I just wanted to say that I support you guys." She smiled warmly again, and cleared some of the old plates from earlier. "Honestly, it's not very often you get to meet someone else in the community, much less people who're known icons." She turned away and walked back to the kitchen, balancing our plates in her hands.

I thought for a minute about what she said, and I had so many questions. I'm- We're icons? And besides that, someone else in the community? What did she mean by all that?

Lance shushed me as if he could hear my thoughts and offered me another piece of the lemon sushi. I gladly took it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, it's been so long since I posted last! I've been pretty busy with school and stuff, so since I finally had the time I wrote a bunch more stuff! 
> 
> I'll try to post more regularly now that I'm on break!


	3. Small Station Catastrophy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so when this little symbol comes up (♪), if you want, start playing the song "Fix My Heart" by SayWeCanFly. It'll make sense later.
> 
> Also, more importantly there is a trigger warning for this chapter (and possible more to come) so if you're sensitive about suicide then I recommend you stop reading when Keith says, "whatever it is, it's going to be okay." And then scroll down until Keith says, "I'm so, so sorry."

The walk back to the station was peaceful. Lance and I didn't say much, but the silence was calming. By the time we made it back, it was 11:55.

"Perfect timing!" Lance walked over to his chair and spun gracefully into his seat, somehow throwing on his headphones in the process. He made sure the microphone was turned off as he plugged the cord into the panel. 

When we had first started up The Coffee Talk, Lance and I had no idea how to use our equipment properly, and as you can imagine, it didn't go too well. The first time I tried to plug in my headphones, the microphone was on, and the feedback scared me bad enough that I fell backwards and hit my head against the back of my chair. I ended up getting a minor concussion from it, but we learned to turn off our microphones.

"You ready to go?" He asked, handing me my headphones as I hung my jacket on the back of my chair and sat down.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

He gave me a thumbs up and looked at the timer.

"We're live in three, two-"

"Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Coffee Talk! Where we talk about Coffee, shoes, and all the latest news!" We accidentally started the intro at the same time, but I ended up saying most of it after Lance couldn't control his laughter. 

"It's officially time for... drumroll please!"

Lance pressed a button, which sounded the very drumroll that I hated, and I continued the 12'o clock intro.

"The 12 'o clock conspiracy!" Lance made a cymbal sound with his teeth, and I smirked at him again.

"Today's conspiracy is about gravity. Lance, would you care to explain?"

I handed him one of the endless packets we'd printed out for the day, and Lance regained his seriousness for the show. "Sure, why not?" He flipped through the papers and started reading.

"Okay, so the theory is that gravity, put simply, doesn't exist." He started, and he switched his mic off and whispered, "What is this bullshit?" I shrugged, and he switched his microphone back on and continued reading.

"Gravity is a government controlled force that is only used to keep us on Earth." Lance laughed, despite himself. "Oh my god I can't read this." 

Lance threw down the papers, and it was only when he looked at me with an incredibly confused face that I joined him in his laughing.

"Keith what the Hell?" He picked up the packet and turned the pages, looking for anything that was actually a theory, and started laughing harder. "What the Hell?"

“I printed that out last week.” I switched off my microphone, and Lance did the same. I pressed the music button as Lance picked the packet up to look at it again.

“Why?” He flipped to the last page and read aloud, “so that concludes how gravity is linked to-” he stopped and choked on his laughter.

“You didn't even spell turtles right!” 

I felt tears come to my eyes from laughing too hard, and as Lance looked up from reading I saw that he was crying too.

“What the fuck?” He threw the papers across the room, where they hit a wall and fell to the floor in a sad heap.

“That was so worth it.” I switched on the microphone again.

“Welcome back everyone!” I said happily, still wiping my sleeves over my face. “Lance and I are back with some more songs you guys have requested, so we'll play those as our 12 o’ clock special instead.” I pressed the play button on the soundtrack. (♪)

“1-2, 1-2-3-4…”

Some chords strummed through the headphones at a moderate pace, and as soon as the intro started I saw Lance throw off his headphones.

“You okay?” I asked, taking one ear of my headphones off and listening to the music.

“Say my name, but be careful not to break my heart.”

Lance hadn't answered me, instead he was staring forward with a strange look on his face.

“Lance. Hey, Lance.” I tapped him on the shoulder, making him flinch.

“Shit, sorry.” I backed off, not knowing what to do. The music kept playing, and I shut off the speakers as the chorus started.

“But maybe I should find a way to let you know, that even though you're gone and you have left me here alo-”

Lance snapped back and looked at me with a now blank expression on his face. I couldn't quite tell what he was thinking, but judging by his face it wasn't positive.

“I'm sorry.” Lance got up and paced the room.

“Hey, you're all good, wh-” I started, but didn't finish my sentence. “You okay?”

Lance shrugged, making his way back around for the second time. “Honestly?” His voice cracked a little bit. “No, but I will be.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and started pacing faster. 

I stood up and put my hands on his shoulders. He sank to the floor in a sitting position and I sat with him, our knees touching.

There was a long period of silence in the room before either of us did or said anything, but when the silence cleared it was me who started talking. 

“If you don't mind me asking, what happened?” 

He brought his head up from staring at his lap, and I saw that his eyes were tearing up for the second time today.

“Not right now.” He shook his head and squinted his eyes. “Later.”

I nodded as his breathing shuddered. “Do you need a hug?”

It was his turn to nod, and as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders I could feel his breathing slow down a bit.

“I'm sorry.” He didn't pull away, but instead he leaned his head into my shoulder, relaxing into my arms.

“It's okay.” I replied kindly. I ran a hand through his hair, which was a lot softer than I'd expected. I turned so I was leaning against the wall in a more comfortable position. 

After Lance calmed down about ten minutes later, I helped him stand and walk back over to the table where we had our equipment all set up.

He sniffed, sitting in the chair and putting his headphones back on. “God, I'm sorry ab-bout that.” his voice wasn't cooperating,I understood that, so I put my headphones on. 

“I told you already, it's okay.” I smiled at him and started the intro music. “I'll take over from here.” 

He nodded and took off the headphones, sinking back into his chair.

“Hey everyone, welcome back to The Coffee Talk.” I paused for a minute, fixing my hair to fit comfortably underneath the headphones. “Where we talk about Coffee, shoes, and all the latest news.”

I saw Lance dazedly mouthing along to the intro, still slumped in his chair.

“Sorry about the delays, it's been kind of a weird day.” 

The phone started ringing as I heard Lance whisper something under his breath. I went to ask him what he said, but decided to answer the phone instead. I'd ask him when he was more willing to talk.

“Hi, welcome to The Coffee Talk, where we talk about Coffee, shoes, and all the latest news, how can I help you this fine day?”

“Hi, I was just calling to ask what happened?” The voice had a soft, warm quality to it. 

“Well,” I looked over at Lance, who had gone back to defeatedly gazing out the window. “We had a slight problem here at the station, but I was able to come back on the air for the time being.”

The voice hummed and understanding, and then sounded confused. “Speaking of that, where's Lance? Is he okay?” 

I sighed, feeling empathetic towards the man next to me. “Lance is here, he's just not able to be on the air at the moment.” 

“Thank you.” Lance murmured, now listening to the phone call. I nodded at him.

“Okay, thank you.” The voice sounded anxious over the phone, “I was just worried, ya know?”

“Yeah, I understand.” I prepared to hang up, but quickly asked, “What's your name, by the way?” 

“Just call me Hunk.” The voice said, and then there was the telltale click of the receiver on the other line. I hung up and said the outro, playing more of the soundtrack over the station.

“Okay?” I asked, trying to keep Lance from disassociating completely.

“Mm…” he groaned, and then sat up. “I guess?”

I nodded. “Hey, what did you say earlier after I commented about it being a weird day? I couldn't really hear you over the ringing.”

“Oh.” he used the table to sit himself completely up. “Guess you're a poet and you don't even know it.”

I thought for a minute, confused, and then smiled. “Classic.”

“What?” He turned his head towards me. 

I laughed a little bit, trying to cheer him up. “Nothing, it's just-” I thought for a minute. “Classic Lance, to make a joke in the middle of catastrophy.”

“I guess,” 

I took my headphones off and turned sideways in my chair towards him. He was still staring off into the distance, seemingly lost in his thoughts. “Hey, it's not your fault.” I moved closer and put a hand on his shoulder. “You couldn't control the song coming on, and you couldn't control your reaction. It's not your fault.”

He tensed up, “But it was!” He put his head in his hands. “I'm the one who started the whole thing, it would've never happened if-” his entire body twitched and tears started streaming down his face again as he stopped mid-sentence.

I wrapped my arm around him and he leaned into me. “Listen Lance, you're gonna be okay.” I rubbed his back, trying to comfort him. “whatever it is, it's gonna be okay.”

He slid out of his chair onto the floor again, landing with a dull, painful sounding thud. “It won't be okay. It'll never be okay and it's all because of me.” 

I sat next to him again. “what do you mean-”

“She's dead because of me!” He stood up and started pacing again. “Everything that happened- she said she'd do it, I couldn't deal with it, everything I did and said- nothing-” he started crying harder, and I walked up in time for him to start explaining.

“I was struggling, Keith. My mom was sick, I was struggling to pay rent because I couldn't hold a job, I could barely afford to keep the lights on-” he wiped his eyes, “she actually thought I was worth something, I thought she was the best thing ever.” 

I brought him over to the couch and sat the both of us down, and he layed against me as he kept going on.

“She said she'd do it, Keith.” He stammered over his words. “And I didn't believe her.”

“What happened?” I asked calmly, running my hand through his hair again. It seemed to help him calm down a little bit.

“She killed herself.” He turned on his side, now laying with his head on my stomach. “She told me she would if I didn't get my life straightened out, and then she found out about my anxiety and depression and stuff-” He shook his head. “When I came out it was the last straw for her.” 

I blinked, slightly surprised by that, but I didn't interrupt him.

“She'd had it planned out the whole time. She knew nobody except me cared about her, she staged the entire thing.” He made a fist with his hand, grabbing my shirt slightly.

“She made me watch,” his face screwed up, and I held his head gently against my chest, where he'd moved up slightly.

"I spent months listening to that song on repeat, trying to help myself get over it.” 

He stayed silent for a long time after that, and I just spent the time holding him, trying to calm him down. He took a deep breath. "It never helped, it just reminded me of everything I did wrong."

“She blamed me for everything, and the worst thing is I believe her.” 

I stared in shock after he said everything, not knowing what to say. I'd been in some horrible relationships before, but nothing that serious.

“Holy fuck,” I sat up, holding Lance in a hug. “I'm so, so sorry.” 

He sat up as well, nodding. He leaned against me, and we sat in silence for a long while. The phone rang a couple times, and we both heart the message maching play all the times, neither of us willing to get up and answer the phone.

“Do you think we should end the day early?” Lance suggested.

“Yeah, sure.” Lance sat up as I stood to go to the table. “It'll probably be good for the both of us.”

I said all the goodbyes for the day, and shut off all the equipment except for the recorded stuff. We played music all night so people didn't get bored listening to the station.

As Lance and I grabbed our stuff and walked down the stairs, he stopped me.

“Do you think I could come over?” He stared at his feet as he started walking again, shaking his head. “No, nevermind, I'm sorry, that sounded-”

“It's fine.” I said, reaching to open the double doors to the sidewalk outside. It was still light outside, only being about 5:30. 

“Are you sure?” We both crossed the street towards the parking garage.

“Positive.” I lead him to the right, entering the parking garage entrance. “After everything that happened today, it's no big deal.” Lance and I walked up to the ride I'd used to get to work, which was my motorbike. I tossed Lance my helmet as we both got on.

“I didn't know you drove a motorcycle.” He got on the back and held on to my waist, and then looked at me quizzically. “Wait, don't you need a helmet?”

“I'll be fine.” I shrugged. “One five minute trip won't be too horrible.” I started the engine at the bike. “Have you ridden before?”

“Yeah, once or twice.” He interlocked his fingers together and found his footing. “My uncle had a motorcycle.”

I pulled out of the parking space as I nodded. “Okay, so you kinda know what to expect?”

He nodded quickly, and I turned to leave the garage. “Thank God.” I replied, and I made our way to my apartment.


	4. What Is Happening Pt. 1

The five minutes were uneventful for the most part, we didn't say anything to each other as I pulled into the reserved parking spot in front of the apartment complex. It was only when Lance got off the bike first that I realized he'd been leaning on me.

“Which one's yours?” He asked, taking off the helmet and looking around at the building.

I stepped off the bike and took the helmet from him. “I'm on the second story, follow me.”

He nodded as we walked through the lobby. I waved at Allura, one of my neighbors, who was walking out of the elevator.

She waved back with a smile. “Hey Keith, how's everything?”

I shrugged, “I'm okay, I guess. Things were a little hectic today at the station.”

“So I heard.” She smiled kindly at me, and then noticed Lance behind me. “Lance?” She suggested.

“Yep.” He said, and put out a hand to shake. 

“I'm Allura.” She said, taking his hand. “It's nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.” He replied shakily, and we waved our goodbyes and started walking up the stairs.

We reached my apartment, number 6B, and I unlocked the door. I held the door open as Lance walked inside.

I closed the door to the apartment, not bothering to lock it, and as I turned I saw a flash of black and white fur and a small yell of surprise.

“Kosmo, down!” He wasn't a huge dog, but he had enough strength to knock someone over pretty easily. I scooted him out of the way as Lance sat up a little bit.

“I'm sorry about him, he's not used to people coming over.” I helped Lance up and he brushed himself off. 

“It's okay, he seems like he has good intentions.” Lance laughed.

Kosmo ran over to me, sniffing my jeans and shoes. “I don't think he realizes how big of a dog he is.” 

Lance laughed, “Yeah, I had a dog like that.” He looked around the room for a second, and then kneeled down to pet Kosmo.

Lance and I took off our jackets, and I hung them up on the coat rack as I walked towards the kitchen. “You can sit wherever, I don't mind.” I pulled out a carton of eggs and some pre-grated cheese from the fridge, the only food I had at the moment besides a jar of salsa and some chips. As I grabbed a frying pan and started the stove, Lance sat on a barstool in front of me.

“Fried eggs okay?” I asked, cracking one on the stove.

“Sure, I like eggs.” Lance swiveled in his seat.

“There's chips and salsa, if you want some of that too.” I cracked another egg into the pan.

Lance's eyebrows flicked up, and he stood up. “I have an idea. Where's the salsa and chips?” 

“The chips are right here,” I said, pulling the bag out of the cupboard above me. “And the salsa’s in the fridge.” He maneuvered around me and grabbed the salsa, setting it on the counter to my left. 

“Have you ever heard of chilaquiles?” he asked, unrolling the bag of corn chips.

“No,” I turned up the heat on the burner and added some salt and pepper to the eggs. “I mean, I've heard of it but I don't know what it is.”

Lance unrolled the bag of chips. “It's a type of breakfast food.” He tried a chip out of the bag and winced. 

“Ya, sorry about that. They're really stale.” Lance moved the salsa to my right and shrugged.

“It doesn't matter, they'll work.” I gave him a confused look and he popped open the salsa. “Mind if I kinda take over?”

I shrugged and moved out of the way slightly as he spun around and looked at me. 

“Do you have a saucepan I could use?” 

“Honestly, I don't know.” I looked in the drawers where I had found the pan and found a small-ish pot. “Will this work?”

He nodded, smiling, and I walked to sit behind the counter. He poured the salsa into the pot and turned on the heat, and then turned to the eggs I had started. “How many eggs do you want?”

“Umm, two.” I replied. He grabbed two more eggs and cracked them into the pan. I smiled at him as he stirred the saucepan on his right.

He looked up at me and blinked. “What?” An egg popped loudly in the pan and he jumped a little bit, his hand still on the spoon he was stirring with.

“I didn't know you could cook.” I watched him carefully, trying to remember how he was doing it so I could cook the same thing later.

“Yeah, my mom taught me and my siblings how when we were younger.” A fond expression went over his face. “She didn't want us to starve when we moved out of the house is what she said, but I think she wanted to pass down family recipes more than anything.” he laughed, and I laughed with him.

“The only thing I was taught how to make was cereal.” I joked. Lance looked at me, now seemingly allarmed.

“Are you serious?” He flipped the eggs over and turned off the heat on the salsa.

“Kind of?” I shrugged. “I can't read recipes very well, but I'm good at figuring out ratios and stuff for food.” I laughed awkwardly. “I guess I can kinda cook?” 

“Wow.” He put the eggs on two separate plates, adding cheese and chips. “That's- -I don't think I could've taught myself how to do that.” He poured the salsa over the food and handed me a plate.

“I bet you could if you wanted to.” I said, walking around to grab forks and napkins. 

He sat down in the chair next to mine. “No,” he said, taking one of the forks from my hands. “I'm really bad at figuring out how much of stuff needs to go in food, like spices and stuff. For example, if I'm making rice pudding, I don't know how much cinnamon I should add, how much honey.” He shrugged, taking a bite of his food. “I need a recipe so I know how much to add so it tastes okay.”

I sat down and picked some of the food up with my fork. “But you made this without a recipe, didn't you?”

He shook his head. “This was the first thing my mom taught me how to cook, and after years of making it for the family I memorized the recipe.” He shrugged and explained what he did. “Since there were four eggs, I used a cup of salsa, which is half the jar, and ten chips, five for each of us.” 

“Seems simple enough.” I replied, taking another bite.

“It is pretty simple, but I wouldn't have been able to make it if I'd never seen a recipe.” He looked down at his food.

“You just can't be afraid of messing up once or twice.” I laughed. “I mean, hell, I almost blew up a kitchen once because I thought it was smart to heat up a plate on the stove.” 

Lance smiled. “Yeah, I never did that. I did almost burn out entire dinner before though.” 

“I've done that before.” I said, trying to relate to him. It was a little more than almost burning food, but it was close enough. “Loudest smoke alarms I've ever heard in my life.” 

Lance almost choked on his food from laughing, and he coughed a little bit as I apologized.

“Oh my God, I think I'm dying.” He coughed again, and I laughed.

“You're not dying, I promise.” I finished the last bite of food on my plate and tossed the plate the trash. I was thankful for the fact that the salsa hadn't leaked through the paper and on to the counter, although I could see it had gotten close.

“You sure?” Lance coughed violently and then wheezed. 

“I think? Are you okay?” I turned around and he was walking towards the kitchen. 

“Probably, do you have water?” He coughed into his hand.

“I think, hang on.” I dug through the cabinets near my feet and grabbed a water bottle.

I tossed it towards him and he caught it easily. “Thanks,” he said, chugging half of it.

I cleared his plate off the counter, since there wasn't any food left on it, and headed over to the couch on the other side of the apartment. I sat down for a moment, and then almost immediately got up to grab some extra blankets.

“What're you doing?” Lance questioned as I laid blankets out on the couch.

I grabbed a pillow I had knocked to the ground. “Setting up a place to sleep.” I fluffed the pillow and set it down. “You can sleep in my bed and I'll sleep on the couch.”

He shook his head at that. “No, no, you don't have to do that! I can sleep on the couch if you want!” His face turned red.

“You're fine, it's no big deal.” My bed wasn't much better than the couch, comfort-wise, but I didn't care. 

“It kind of is?” Lance motioned randomly with his hands as I turned to look at him. “I mean, I'm the one who came over I should sleep on the couch-” 

“Lance, it's no big deal.” I put my hands on his shoulders, causing his hand motions to cease. “We can figure out everything later, since you're so concerned about it.” I looked at the clock, which only read 7:45. “Besides, it's too early to sleep anyway.” 

He looked at the clock and nodded. “So… what do you wanna do until then?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've mentioned chilaquiles in two stories now and it feels excessive °^-^ but it's okay it's cute
> 
> Oof anyways I'm gonna try to get more chapters posted, so much for being consistent XD


	5. What Is Happening Pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was kind of a weird chapter, don't ask me what's going on because I don't know
> 
> See also: I don't know what I'm doing

I looked around and shrugged. I glanced at my phone on the counter, and saw a notification pop up. I walked over to check it, and was startled by what I saw. I didn't react, I just shut my phone off and stuck it in my back pocket. Almost immediately I heard a ding from across the room, and turned around to see Lance gaping at his phone. 

“What the fuck?!” He threw his phone across the room. “No, no, there's no fucking way, no-” he sat on the couch and I ran over to him. 

“Lance, I don't know what's happening but I got the same thing on my phone-”

“This can't be happening.” His eyes were still wide as he started shaking his head. “This isn't happening, there's no fucking way-”

“Lance, calm down, you're gonna be okay.” I grabbed his hand to try and calm him down, but he pulled away and put his head in his hands.

“She's dead Keith!” He started shaking as his phone dinged again. “How is she-”

“I don't know, I got the same thing from my mom.” He looked up at me, and his phone went off again. 

His arm twitched from the sound of the ringing noise. It wasn't the default tone; instead it was a section from a song I didn't recognize.

I walked over and shut off all the volume to his phone, then walked over and sat next to him, my arm around him. “Lance, you're gonna be okay.” He shuddered and looked at me.

“How are you not shaken up at this, too?” He looked at my phone, which was in my back pocket. “You said you got the same text from your mom?”

I winced a little bit. “Yeah, I did.” I grabbed my phone and turned on the screen. The notification was still there, bright and clear. “1 missed call from Krolia Kogane.” I read aloud to him.

“What the fuck?” He exclaimed, his eyes starting to test up.

“I don't know.” My sentence was slightly shaky, so I took a deep breath and counted to ten. 

“Did she leave a message?” He asked, and I clicked on the notification.

“Doesn't look like it.” I said, but then another notification pinged at the top of my phone screen.

“New message from Krolia Kogane.” We both read aloud.

“What the fuck?” Now it was my turn to yell at my phone. “Should we listen?”

Lance didn't respond, he just rocked back and forth a little bit. I threw the phone. “Listen, you're gonna be alright. Just try to breathe, okay?” He nodded and took a shaky breath, and then answered. 

“If you want to listen to the message, go ahead.” He stared accusingly at the phone on the ground in front of him. “But I'm not going to even look at the texts on my phone.”

I nodded. “Is it okay?” He looked back at me and nodded.

“I don't think it'll hurt me.” He stared back at his phone. “I never knew your mom or anything.”

I nodded and grabbed my phone, and then pressed play on the message.  
\------------------------------------------------------  
“Hey, Keith? It's me, mom. I just wanted to say that, /pause/ I miss you. I never wanted to leave you like that, alone with Shiro and your father, but you know why I did it. I want to see you again sometime. Call me back.”   
\------------------------------------------------------  
The message ended, and me and Lance stared, shocked, at the phone in my hands.

“Hell no,” I said, pressing home and shutting off my phone. “Oh Hell to the fucking no.” I threw my phone onto the carpet again.

“W-” Lance started to ask something, but stopped himself. “Nevermind, I'll ask later.”

 

I nodded and caught sight of Lance's phone. “Lance, can I listen to the one on your phone?”

He looked at me, shock running down his entire being. “No, nonononono.” He shook his head rapidly, his arms tucked around his knees. “I can't-” 

“You wouldn't hear it. I'll use my earbuds.” I suggested, pulling them out of my other pocket. I untangled them as Lance sighed.

“Can I?” I asked, and he hesitantly nodded his head. 

“Thank you.” I said, and I plugged the earbuds in.  
\------------------------------------------------------  
“Hey, Lance? This is Kiaya. I just wanted to apologize. I know what happened really screwed you over, and I know Sam and Alex didn't make it better, but I really am sorry. What I did was wrong, and nothing I can say will make it right, but I want to be able to apologize in person. Please, Lance, call me back.”  
\------------------------------------------------------  
I took the earbuds out of the phone and handed it back to Lance, turning off the screen.

“It said almost the same thing mine did, just in different context.” I told him, and he winced, leaning onto the back of the couch. “Basically apologizing and asking to meet in person.” 

He closed his eyes tightly. “No amount of apologizing will fix it.” 

“I know.” I said, and Lance lightly leaned on me. I wrapped an arm around him, trying to comfort him.

“Everything she did-” he shuddered again and pressed himself against my right side. “-It can't, I'm not-” he took a shaky breath. “I won't let it happen again.” 

I glanced down at my phone and picked it up for a third time. “I won't let it happen either, I can promise you that.” I turned on the phone and dialed the only phone number I could think of.

Shiro answered on the first ring, like he always does, but this time his voice was more weary than usual. “Keith, is everything alright?”

“Mostly, did you get a weird call just now?” I put him on speaker so Lance could hear the conversation as well.

“Yeah, we're tracing it at the station now.” There was a lot of background noise, and Lance and I looked at each other with equal concern.

“Did you get a call?” He asked me professionally.

“Yeah, from Mom.” I answered Shiro's question quickly. “Lance got the call from his ex girlfriend.” Shiro hummed his understanding and went silent for a minute.

“We're tracing the call back from my phone.” He said, the sound of typing filling the speakers as well as his voice. 

“Who called you?” I asked, my fingers now brushing Lance's hair for the third time today.

“Dad.” He replied almost instantly, and then a wave of shock came through the receiver.

“What the fuck?!” Shiro exclaimed as the sound of a rolling chair hitting the wall became audible.

“What's happening?” I asked, sitting up.

“The call has been traced back to 2251 Galra Way.” Some incomprehensible sounds came through, and then Shiro's even quieter muttering of “what the fuck?”

“Isn't that the cemetery?” I asked, feeling my breathing get heavier.

“Yeah,” Shiro breathed, “it's traced from exactly where Dad is buried.”

I furrowed my brows, “what do you mean?” I swallowed down my anxiety and keeps asking questions. “Isn't that impossible?”

Shiro sighed. “Yeah, it is. We're assuming it's a prank call or a spoof of something, but we'll keep you updated.” 

I took a deep breath, “Okay, thanks Shiro.”

“No problem Keith.” I went to hang up, but stopped as Shiro added, “Make sure you sleep at a reasonable hour, and also I'm sorry about what happened this morning on the station.”

“I'll try my best, and it's not your fault.” 

“I know, but still. G'night Keith.”

“Night Shiro.” I replied and pressed the end call button.

“What the fuck?” I asked again, laying back down against the back of the couch.

Lance groaned, and I stood up.

“I can sleep on the couch.” He murmured, spreading out over the entire couch.

“Are you sure?” I asked him cautiously.

“Yeah,” he replied quietly, pulling the blanket on himself. “I'll be fine here.” 

“Alright, goodnight then, I guess.” I said, glancing at the time. 9:00.

“Night.” He said, turning over.

I made my way back to my room, making sure the stove and lights were off on the way there. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep for at least a couple hours, so I grabbed a water bottle for if I got thirsty, so I wouldn't have to wake up Lance.

I shut off the light in the short hallway, and switched off the light to my room as well as I entered.


	6. Nope, Don't Remember, Didn't Happen

I was figuring out a new chord on my ukulele when I heard a soft knock on the door.

“Yeah?” I asked quietly, not knowing if it was Kosmo or Lance.

“Can I come in?” Lance's tired voice sounded muffled behind the door.

“Yeah, are you okay?” I set my ukulele down and opened the door for Lance. He had the blanket I had set out draped over his arms, and he lethargically walked towards me, Kosmo trailing not far behind him.

“I'm fine, I just can't sleep.” His voice was barely at a whisper, but that was to be expected at almost one in the morning.

“Oh, I'm sorry.” I walked next to him to the bed, and as he sat down he tossed the blanket he was carrying behind him.

“It's not your fault,” he replied, moving into a criss cross sitting position. “I can't stop thinking about the phone calls we got.”

I nodded and moved into a similar criss cross position. “Shiro said that he and the police were trying to figure it out, I have faith in them.” I picked up my ukulele and went back to trying out the new fingering.

“You play the ukulele?” He cocked his head to the side slightly and smiled.

“Yeah, somewhat.” I looked from my fingers up to Lance. “Why, do you?”

He shook his head. “No, I play guitar, mostly.” 

I nodded. “Mostly?” I asked.

“Well, yeah,” he shrugged. “I can play piano and trumpet too, but I like the guitar better.” He closed his eyes and sighed. “I'm not so great at the other two, but it's only because I don't play very often.”

“Mm.” I replied, and I played a little bit, deciding to figure out the other fingering later. The one I used worked perfectly fine for the time being.

There was a long pause of me swiping at my phone and playing the chords on the screen before Lance started talking again.

“What song is that?” He tried to look at my screen, but then shielded his eyes from the light.

“It’s a song I wrote awhile back,” I replied, swiping right on the phone to go to the next page. “After my mom passed away.”

“Oh.” Lance wrapped the blanket around him and watched me play. “I'm sorry.” 

I set my ukulele on my lap. “It's okay, it was a long time ago.” I grabbed my phone and turned it off, throwing it to my right as I put away my ukulele.

Lance looked away, staring one of the many pillows that were on my bed. “Can I ask you something?” He asked, not looking at me.

I closed the buckles on my ukulele case and turned towards him. “Yeah, what is it?” I replied, finally taking my hair out of the ponytail I had put up hours ago.

“How did your mom die?” He took a deep breath and shook his head. “I'm sorry.”

“It's okay, really.” I replied softly. I clasped my hands in my lap as I answered his question. “She died in a plane crash. She was a fighter pilot for some sort of military branch, I don't remember which one.” I set my ukulele case on the floor. “One day there was a malfunction on the plane she piloted.” I stared at my hands and kept explaining. “There had been a problem with the engine, and when she tried to use the emergency ejection it didn't work.” I took my hands out of my lap and set them on my knees, feeling them shake as I did so.

Lance looked up at me, his lanky frame seeming smaller hunched under the blanket. “I'm sorry Keith.” He said sadly.

I didn't respond. I knew if I tried to talk I would start crying, so I nodded my head.

“Hey, are you okay?” Lance looked at me, leaning over so he could see my face underneath my hair. I shook my head, and he put his hand on mine.

He sighed. “I don't know how to help you, but if you need me I'm here.” He put his arm around my back and on my shoulder like I had done earlier, and I leaned against him, letting the tears I had been suppressing finally run down my face. 

When I could finally talk, I laughed sarcastically. “It’s been a shitty day, hasn't it?” my voice was gravelly from crying, but at this point I didn't care.

Lance laughed a breathy laugh. “I'd have to agree with you there.” He moved his right hand down to meet mine, and I accepted it. I wiped my face with my other hand, focussing on taking deep breaths like Shiro had told me.

After another while later, Lance spoke again.

“I can stay here if you want.” He suggested, still keeping his hand interlocked with mine. “Of course, if you don't want me to I can-”

“Lance,” I looked up at him, making eye contact. “I'm okay with you staying.”

His eyes widened, despite him being sleep deprived at now almost 2 in the AM. “Are you sure? Because I can-”

“I'm sure.” I interrupted his slight panic, and took a sip from the water bottle I had grabbed earlier. “It'll probably help the both of us.” I added.

He nodded and flipped the blanket he was holding out, turning to lay underneath it. I laid down next to him and pulled the quilt I had on my bed over me. 

“Night Lance.” I said, rolling over so my back was towards him.

“Night.” he replied, still keeping his same position. Kosmo jumped on the bed and laid in between out legs on top of the covers, seemingly content with this new sleeping arrangement. 

It took only a few minutes for me to know that Lance had fallen asleep, and it didn't take long after that for me to fall, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was an awkward bonding moment
> 
> But it was still a bonding moment


	7. Weird Mornings

I woke up with a start, light streaming through the window in front of me. I blinked a couple times, and all the events from yesterday came rushing back.

As I became more awake, I realized that in the night, Lance had ended up with his arm around me. I heard him groan next to me as he gradually woke up as well.

“What time is it?” He asked, his words heavy and slurred from sleep.

I didn't know how to respond, so I just replied, “Morning Lance.” 

I heard him do a double take from behind me, and then felt him sit up slightly. “I'm so fucking sorry.” He said, sitting up fully and taking his arm off of me.

“You apologize a lot.” I commented, stretching and sliding off the bed. I looked at the clock across the room. “And it's 7:00.”

He stretched and moved his legs into a criss cross position, like he had last night. “How do you get up so fast?” I grabbed a towel and the clothes I needed for the day.

As I turned around, I saw his eyes were barely even open. I shrugged, “it's just a habit, I guess.” I walked towards the door and opened it. “Do you need to take a shower?” 

“Yeah, but I'll go after you. I take awhile to get up.” He laughed at himself around a yawn and I walked to the bathroom, locking the door behind me.

By the time I got out of the shower Lance was still in the same position, but his eyes were more open and there was a water bottle next to him on the bed.

“I was definitely not prepared for a sleepover.” He joked, getting up and grabbing the jeans and shirt he had worn yesterday.

“Ya, neither was I.” I had only now realized how exposed I felt in just a towel. 

Lance looked at me and realized I was only in a towel, and he immediately turned red and walked towards the bathroom.

“I'll be in the shower-” He stammered, and as he shut the door I yelled back, 

“There's extra towels under the sink!”

I hoped he heard me as I heard the water go on, and I quickly changed into my clothes. This morning back to the station was going to be awkward, that was for sure.

A couple minutes later Lance walked into my room wrapped in a bright pink towel. I slipped on a shirt as he started laughing.

“Why do you even have this?” he smiled incredulously at me.

“Don't bite the hand that feeds you.” I scoffed back. I honestly didn't know where I got the towel, probably from an old gift exchange or something.

“You can borrow a shirt if you need to.” I said, walking out of my room. “And there should be an unopened deodorant somewhere on my dresser.” I closed the door behind me and went out to make breakfast.

“I should probably go to the store later.” I remarked to myself as I looked through the kitchen. We had used up all the eggs last night except for one, which was definitely not enough to split into two breakfasts. I looked in a cupboard and found an expired box of Lucky Charms, but even if they were still edible there wasn't any milk in the fridge.

Lance walked out in the same clothes he wore yesterday, minus a blue shirt I could tell was one of the many I owned.

He looked down at himself. “I think I look better in blue than red.” He commented, and then looked back up at me. “Thanks for letting me borrow a shirt by the way.”

“It's no problem.” I said, closing the cupboards I had opened. “We need to get breakfast before work though, I haven't been to the store recently so there's no food here at the moment.” 

Lance grabbed his things and walked to the door. “I think I know a place we can go, an old friend of mine works at a cafe about two blocks away, we could walk there if we wanted.” 

I shrugged and grabbed my jacket, phone, and keys. “Sounds good. You lead the way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a few short chapters in a row, but I'm gonna make sure one of the next ones is somewhat lengthy for you guys. Just stay tuned!


	8. Biscuits and Hunay

It was surprisingly cold for it being the middle of summer, but maybe that was just me having no tolerance for it. Lance and I walked for about ten minutes, and when I started to see my breath halfway through I realized it wasn't just me thinking it was cold.

Lance stopped in front of a small building that was wafting a scent of pastries and coffee. The sign on the door said “Biscuits and Hunay”, and before I could ask why honey was spelled so weird Lance pulled me into the shop.

A large man with a happy demeanor welcomed us into the shop, and upon seeing Lance, he smiled.

“Lance, I haven't seen you in forever!” He walked around the counter to give Lance a hug, and Lance laughed a little.

“Yeah, it's been awhile.” Lance replied, and then he gestured to me. “Hunk, this is Keith, Keith, this is Hunk.”

I walked up the counter to shake his hand, and as he pulled me into a hug instead something clicked. 

“Hey, you called the station yesterday, didn't you?”

Hunk looked at me, confused, and then made a happy “oh” shape with his smile. “Yeah, I just wanted to make sure Lance was okay.” He walked back to his side of the counter, washed his hands, and continued the conversation. “After those songs played and he didn't come back on the air I got worried.”

I nodded and walked closer to the counter to watch Hunk work.

Hunk finished kneading the dough he had and put it in the oven. “So what can I get you guys?” He asked cheerfully.

Lance recited his order with no hesitation. “Can I get a cheese danish and a black coffee, please?” He made puppy dog eyes, and I knew he was teasing Hunk. “I'm sorry, it's still weird to order something professionally from here.” Hunk laughed and grabbed one of the cheese danishes from the display cabinet with a pair of tongs.

“And what can I get for you, Keith?” He started the coffee pot behind him for Lance's drink, and I looked up at the menu that was hanging from the ceiling.

“Umm, I'll get a cheese danish too, and what are your choices for tea?” I asked awkwardly. 

He smiled at me, seemingly sensing the weird anxiety I was feeling. 

“We have bubble tea, have you ever tried it?” 

A voice from behind Hunk startled me, and a woman with a brown bun on the top of her head came into view.

“I'm Shay, by the way.” she stuck out her hand for me to shake, and I obliged.

I replied to her question as Lance quipped his one-liner about poets. “I've heard of it, but I've never tried it.”

She smiled kindly at me. “No need to say more.” She said, spinning around to walk out of the kitchen. “I'll make the best bubble tea you've ever had!” She laughed and walked towards what I assumed was the kitchen.

“Shay's awesome.” Lance said, eating his danish and pulling out money from his wallet to pay for the food we'd gotten.

“I can pay for my order.” I said quickly, pulling my wallet out of my jacket pocket.

Lance shook his head. “Nope, this one’s on me.” He put the money on the counter as Shay came back with a plastic cup filled with light green liquid and neon red bubbles in it. 

“Aww, how sweet.” She commented. She handed me my drink as Lance and I both turned red in the face.

“Oh come on, give them a break.” Hunk said, smiling. Shay laughed at Hunk.

“I'm only teasing them.” She gave us a knowing look and then made the “eyes on you” sign with her fingers. Hunk sighed as she walked back into the kitchen.

“She's just messing around with you guys.” He said, his smile turning more into a smirk. “Although, she's won a lot of bets before about this kind of stuff….” 

“Oh shut up!” Lance started turning even more red, and I decided to try a sip of my drink. 

“You know he's right!” Shay called from the back, and Hunk laughed as Lance almost spit out his drink.

“I'm so done!” Lance was smiling as he put five dollars quickly into the tip jar. “See you guys later!” He opened the door to walk out, and I followed him.

He sighed a little as we walked back to my apartment. “Here's your cheese danish.” He said, handing me a small paper bag.

“Oh, thanks.” I said, taking it from him. The tea that Shay had made was really good. I didn't know how I was supposed to tell what flavor it was. There were so many different flavors, it was hard just to name one.

“I'm sorry about them.” Lance said, sipping his coffee a little bit. “They tend to get a little overbearing sometimes. You'll learn to love 'em though.”

I shook my head. “They were super nice.” I replied. “And the food they make is really good.” I took another sip of the tea, remembering the sign on the door. “There was one thing though, how come Honey is spelled weird on the sign?”

Lance laughed, “it's their two names combined.” He took a bite of his danish and continued. “They thought it was clever, and I still think it is too.” 

It took me a minute to comprehend what he said, but as soon as I did it made sense. “Ohhh okay.” I breathed out into my jacket, trying to warm up my face.

“Holy fuck it's so cold.” Lance commented, puffing air out of his mouth like a dragon. 

“I know.” I replied, my voice muffled by my jacket. “I'm dying.”

Lance looked at me. “You're not dying, I promise.” He said, repeating what I had said earlier.

“Feels like it,” I replied, wishing I could warm my hands so they weren't numb. I stuck my left hand and the cheese danish into my pocket. “I haven't been this cold since Shiro's heating system went out last year.” 

Lance kept blowing air out of his mouth, watching the steam blow away in the air. I couldn't help but feel the corners of my mouth go up as I watched him.

“You're such a little kid.” I laughed, taking Another sip of the bubble tea I had. I was so glad it was warm, otherwise my hand would've frozen off by now.

Lance looked at me and smiled. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” He asked, blowing another cloud of air.

“I don't know,” I replied, watching my feet as we entered the apartment building. We had gotten there a lot faster than I expected, and we both took the stairs two at a time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was so tired writing chapter nine that I got confused and wrote it as chapter eight, so in my momentary confusion and panic I thankfully realized my typo. I'm gonna make chapter nine lengthy for you guys since I have time to write. ^-^


	9. They're Finally Wearing The Right Colors

“Kosmo, stay.” I said as Lance and I entered the apartment. He did as he was told and stayed, wagging his tail and sniffing us down as we walked in. “Good boy.” 

I set my drink on the counter and put my coat on the back of a chair. “Oh my fucking God.” I rubbed my hands together.

Lance turned around to look at me from the coat rack. “What is it?” He asked, sounding confused, hanging up his jacket.

I shook my head. I needed to change my shirt. “Nothing, it's just so cold outside.” I walked towards my room. “I'm gonna change my shirt.”

“Alright.” Lance said, turning back around to pet Kosmo.

I walked into my room and dug through my dressers, looking for a long sleeve shirt. I had a lot of them, but they were all meant to go under other shirts. I took a few out of my shirt drawer and dug around a little bit more.

I found a red turtleneck that I hadn't worn in years and held it up. It was unflattering, yes, but I remembered it was warm. I slipped off the shirt I was wearing and changed into it.

It was almost 8:30 when I walked back into the kitchen, and we needed to be at work by nine. As I walked out into the living room and was explaining this to Lance, his eyes went wide.

“What is it?” I asked, looking behind me and then back at him.

“Nothing,” he put his hand behind his neck as he turned red. He blushed easily. “You look a lot better in red, that's all.”

I laughed awkwardly, not knowing how to respond. “Thanks.” I felt my face go hot, so I turned around to grab a heavier coat from the coat rack. “I haven't worn this shirt in years.” I added as I transferred my belongings to the warmer jacket. I remembered the tea I had and took another drink of it.

“It looks new.” Lance replied, tapping his fingers on the small table he was sitting at. I laughed.

“It practically is new, I've barely worn it since I got it.” I pulled the bar stool out so there wasn't a wall in the middle of us talking.

“Well it looks nice.” Lance got up and grabbed his jacket and started putting it on. “Do you want to head to work early? We could set up and not be so stressed out.” 

I shrugged and put on my jacket as well. “It can't hurt, can it?” I held my drink in one hand and my keys in the other, the rest of my stuff already in my pockets. Lance opened the door and we walked out, only stopping so I could lock the door behind us.

It felt even colder outside on the way to the station, even though I knew the temperature probably hadn't changed. I'd grabbed an extra helmet for myself before we left, so both of our heads and faces were covered, and I was thankful that I didn't have the harsh wind blowing in my face. Lance and I made sure to get inside hastily so we weren't colder than we had to be.

I smiled at Romelle on our way in. She worked downstairs from us as an animator, and from the tiny amount of her work that I had seen I could tell she was good at it. She waved at the two of us.

“Hey Keith, hey Lance.” She smiled warmly.

“Hey Romelle.” We said in unison and made our way to the stairs. I turned when I heard Romelle yell from the doorway.

“The air is too sharp for this!” She exclaimed and walked the rest of the way outside. I had to smother my laughter as I ran up the stairs two at a time.

I unlocked the door and stepped inside, putting my stuff down as Lance followed close behind me.

“That was an eventful morning.” Lance breathed and sat down in his chair, turning everything on. 

“Not the most eventful I've had.” I laughed and joined him at the table.

“Yeah, same with me,” he said, plugging in his headphones. “But still eventful.” I went to plug my headphones in as well.

A loud ringing noise filled the room, scaring the shit out of the both of us. I yelled and threw the headphones off my head. 

I swore and unplugged the headphones quickly. After I recovered I plugged them back in, this time making sure the mic was off.

Lance was laughing as I rubbed my temples. “That hasn't happened in awhile.” He flipped through some pages of today’s news packet, which I had printed out before we left yesterday. “You handled it better this time, though.”

I winced at the headache that had come from the ringing. “Yeah, at least I didn't hit my head this time.” 

He smiled, the residual effects of his laughter still on his face. “True, that wouldn't be good.” 

“Yeah.” I grabbed the identical news packet that was in front of me and flipped to the 12 o'clock theory.

“Hey Lance, what if instead of a theory we do a what if?” I looked up and he gave me a questioning look.

“What do you mean?” he asked, looking over at my packet.

I pointed at the packet, even though it was obvious what I was reading. “I mean, since the theories are getting weird and more joke like than anything, let's do a what if.” I gave an example. “Like, 'what if all of reality is a simulation’ or something like that.” 

He shrugged. “That could work.” He replied and wrote a note in his packet. “Let's try it, and if it doesn't go well we can try something else.”

I nodded and smiled. “Sounds great.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeet I'm back and I know it's a short chapter but *oof* I'll be back with more I swear


	10. The Aftermath Of Yesterday

The time until the morning announcements was boring, and Lance and I spent most of the time nonchalantly flicking balls of paper at each other. By the time we needed to start, they were everywhere.

“Good morning everyone and welcome to The Coffee Talk, where we talk about dogs, shoes, and all the latest news!” I exaggerated my voice as I said the intro, and calmed down for the weather report.

“It's 9:00 this morning, and a chilly 35 degrees outside. I don't understand how it went from 70 yesterday to 30 today, but oh well.” I laughed a little bit and went on.

“The high for today is 55, while the low is 32.” I flipped the packet to the next page. “Luckily there's only a 2% chance of precipitation, so no rain or snow for today.”

Lance continued where I left off, and I realized that we had started a new routine. “The wind speed is about 3 miles an hour today, so make sure to stay warm you guys.” 

Lance seemed calmer today, he wasn't making the usual amount of jokes, and he didn't sound as upbeat. I wondered if it was from yesterday or if it was something else.

“There's a little bit of traffic today on the freeway, and already there's been an accident off of highway 9 near where Bob's Boulevard branches off.” He flipped the page in his packet. “So be prepared for some slowing down in that area.”

He set his packet down and rubbed his head, and I picked up where he left off, giving him a worried look. “Well, that's the end of the morning news, and we are still holding our offer of playing songs you suggest, so make sure to call or text us if you have a suggestion!” I signed off and shut off my microphone.

I turned to look at Lance. “Hey, you alright?” He looked at me and nodded, rubbing his eyes.

“Yeah I'm fine, just have a lot of stuff on my mind.” he paused and looked away. “Being tired doesn't help.” He laughed.

“I'd have to agree with that.” I sat back and thought for a moment. “Yesterday was..” I stopped and he looked at me. “What do you even call a day like that?” 

“Ugh.” He responded and took a sip of the coffee he had from earlier. “I don't know, horrible beyond imagination?”

I hummed, “I don't think it was quite that bad, it was Hell though.” 

“It felt pretty close.” He quipped. I nodded and walked to the couch. We weren't on the air for another twenty five minutes, so I decided to relax a little. Lance walked over and sat next to me. 

“I listened to that message from yesterday.” He said, and I sat up.

“Wh- are you-”

He interrupted me. “I'm fine, it's just-” he sighed. “It's been on my mind.” He stared at his knees, and I scooted forward to be next to him. “I don't understand how she could've called, and if it's just a prank I don't know how the person would've known about Alex and Sam.” He shook his head, still looking down.

“I don't know how to feel. I'm scared because if Kaiya somehow called, I don't want her to be able to hurt me again, and if it's a prank I don't-” he reworded his sentence. “How would someone know about Sam and Alex? I didn't tell anyone except for Hunk and Shay.” He closed his eyes and clenched his fists, wincing. “It scares me.”

I nodded. “I get what you mean,” I replied softly. “There's no way my mom could still be alive, and my dad couldn't have called Shiro because he's not alive either.” I put my hand on his knee in an effort to comfort the both of us. “I don't know what's going on, but Shiro and all the others will figure it out.”

He took a couple of deep breaths. “What scares me most is the second part.” He continued what he had been saying earlier. 

“If it is a prank, only two people knew about Alex and Sam. There's no way anyone else knew about it. What scares me most is that somehow the person who called knew.” He shuddered. “As soon as you tell one person anything, it spreads like wildfire I guess.”

“Wait, what?” I thought about what he had said, and it hit me hard when I realized what he meant. “Lance-”

He shook his head, “I'm fine, just-” he took a deep breath. “You know what, fuck it, you deserve to know.” It was the complete opposite of what I expected, but I couldn't bring myself to say anything as he tapped through his phone and clicked on a seemingly old photo. 

The picture showed him on the very left, a blond haired girl who was almost as tall as him, a shorter, redheaded girl, and another guy who looked like a jock on the very right.

He pointed around the picture. “The blond girl is Kaiya, the read head is Sam, and the buff-looking guy is Alex.” he shut off his phone.

“We were all pretty good friends before everything happened. It started off with me dating Sam, who broke up with me after my anxiety got really bad at a party. After that Sam got together with Alex, so they were dating, and I got together with Kaiya.” I nodded, letting him know I was listening.

“I accidentally came out as bi at one of Alex's football games.” He laughed grimly. “Kaiya and Sam were talking about how cute the guys working at the snack bar were, and I agreed with them.”

I looked at him as he talked, paying attention to what he was saying. 

“They freaked, put simply, and it didn't end up very well.” He zoned out for a minute. “They're the reason I can't ride the elevator, and why I don't like small spaces in general.”

He zoned out again and I put a hand on his shoulder. “You don't have to go on if you don't want to.” I said softly, and he nodded.

“Thanks.” He said distantly. He picked up his phone and turned it on. “Hey, we're back on in like five minutes.” he said, getting up.

“Already?” 

“Apparently.” He replied and walked back over, stepping over the small pieces of paper from earlier.

“We should probably clean those up at some point.” I said, brushing some off the table and onto the floor.

“You're probably right.” He said. He leaned down to pick one up and flung it at me. It landed in my hair, and I shook my head to get it off.

“You're such a child.” I said for the second time today. He laughed.

“You still haven't told me if that's a good or bad thing.” He slipped on his headphones.

“I guess it's a good thing.” I decided, turning on my mic and putting the headphones on as well. “Five, four, three, two-”

“Hey guys, gals, and nonbinary pals, welcome back to The Coffee Talk!” I said lightly and continued.

“We still haven't gotten any calls, so if you want your music to play on our station, just dial 1-669-221-6251, or text the same number to suggest songs for us to-” 

I was interrupted by the ringing of the phone, which Lance picked up.

“Hi and welcome to The Coffee Talk, how can I-” he was interrupted by a voice I didn't recognize. As I looked up at him I could tell by his face that he did, though.

“Hi, would you guys be able to play-?” The person's voice cut out as they said the name of the song, but when Lance's eyes widened slightly I was aware that he probably understood it. The voice sounded like a basic white girl on steroids, yet it sounded somewhat familiar. “It's my favorite song!” She added, giggling at the end. It was nauseating how fake it sounded.

“Sure thing, we'll add it to the playlist.” Lance said the standard reply shakily. “Thank you for calling The Coffee Talk.” 

He practically slammed the receiver down as the call ended. We went off the air and I tried to comfort him.

“Was that-?” He nodded quickly. He took some deep breaths with his eyes closed.

“Don't add the song.” He said, and I nodded. 

“I didn't even hear it.”

He seemed to relax slightly in his seat.

“Was it like that other song?”

Lance nodded. 

I hummed in affirmation and dialed Shiro's number again. His voice sounded tired and worn out when he answered.

“Keith, you alright?” He asked, his standard-ish hello.

“I'm okay, what about you?”

“Tired.” He groaned, sounding as if he was forcing himself out of bed. “What's going on?” He asked.

I furrowed my brows. “The station just got one of those weird calls.” I responded, and I heard him sit up.

“From who?” I could hear things moving around, and it sounded as if he was rushing to get his things together.

“Lance's ex girlfriend again.” I put the phone on speaker so Lance could hear the conversation.

“Okay, I'll be at the station in like ten minutes.” I heard a jingling of what I assumed was car keys.

“Shiro, you don't have to-” 

“I’m coming, and nothing you say will talk me out of it.” I heard the car engine start. “I'll see you in ten minutes.”

“See you in ten.” I replied and hung up.

“Shiro?” Lance asked, and I nodded. “Is he your brother, or..?” 

I started to nod, and held back. 

“Yes, but not by blood.” I got up to clean up the paper scraps as I explained.

“My mom and dad met during one of my mom's missions. They were fighting off some people who were terrorizing the area, and my dad helped them.” Lance rested his head on his arms, and I dumped the paper scraps into the trash bin across the room.

“During the mission they found a little kid underneath a bunch of rubble, and they basically saved him.” Lance looked at me funny. “That kid was Shiro.”

Lance made an “o” shape with his mouth as he understood. I continued the story as I sat back down.

“I don't remember what happened to his real parents, but my parents adopted him after the mission. Shiro was five, and they adopted me when I when I was like three or four. He was like twelve, so he's almost ten years older than me.” I shrugged, finishing my explanation.

“We aren't blood brothers, but we're pretty close.”

Lance smiled, “That's cool you guys are so close, even though Shiro is so much older.”

I smirked. “Shiro isn't that much older than me, he just likes to think he is.” 

Lance let out a small chuckle. He was kind of distant, but he was coming to. “I grew up with four siblings, all older than me.”

My eyes went wide in what was either shock or amazement. I wasn't really sure which. “Wow.” 

“I know, right?” Lance laughed. “It's not as crazy as it sounds, we were all somewhat responsible.” He smiled warmly. “And besides, they always had my back even when I made really stupid choices, so I wouldn't trade them for anything.” 

I hummed, agreeing. “I wouldn't trade my family for anything, either.” The conversation ended when there was a knock on the door. I went to answer it.

“This man said he was looking for you?” Romelle had the back of Shiro's shirt firmly in her fist, and I laughed at how helpless Shiro looked. Romelle had to be at least a foot shorter than him, but he looked completely trapped.

“Yeah, sorry about that.” I replied, letting Shiro in. Romelle pushed him forward, and he stumbled into the studio.

“It's alright, it happens.” She smiled sweetly and walked down the hallway.

“Thank you!” I shouted to her, and she smiled and waved as she continued downstairs to her apartment.

I turned to look at Lance and Shiro. Lance was dying of laughter, using the table so he didn't fall out of his seat, and Shiro, who was sitting on the floor, looked very shaken up.

“You alright?” I joked.

Shiro nodded. “She's stronger than she looks.” He replied, getting up and dusting himself off.

“Seems like it.” I closed the door behind Shiro as he walked to the table.

“You guys got a weird call?” He examined the table and found the phone.

Lance's smile quickly faded as he winced and nodded. “Yeah, like five minutes ago.” He looked out the window.

“Alright, did it say the number?” Shiro asked, grabbing his phone out of his back pocket.

“It should have, let me check.” I pressed the redial button.

“Unknown name, private number.” Lance and I read out loud.

“Fuck.” I murmured. Lance said something I couldn't hear.

“Lance, what?” I asked him to clarify.

“Yo tengo número.” He said barely louder than the first time.

Shiro looked over at Lance. “Puedes darme el número?” He spoke softly, kneeling down next to Lance.

He nodded, typing his passcode into the phone and clicking to the call icon. Shiro was talking quietly with Lance, asking questions. I didn’t know what they were saying, so I didn’t interrupt.

After a little bit of talking, Shiro wrote down what I assumed was the number.

“Thank you.” Shiro said and put away his notepad. Lance nodded again.

“De nada.” He replied. Shiro looked back at me.

“I’m gonna go to the station and see if we can do anything with this number.” He grabbed his keys off the edge of the table where he had set them earlier. “Call me if anything else happens.”

“Alright, I will.” I replied. He smiled at me and Lance and walked out the door.

There was a long silence before either Lance or I said anything.

“I’m glad he's helping us.” Lance’s headphones were on his head, and he sat up.

I walked back to my seat and sat down. “Yeah, I’m glad too.” I didn’t press the button to start the countdown quite yet, still getting my headphones situated.

“What are we even gonna do for the next hour?” I changed the subject. “I usually print out the 12 o’clock theory but I already did that yesterday.”

Lance shrugged, fiddling with a paper ball we had missed while cleaning up earlier. “I don't know. We could make up a game or something.” he suggested.

I tried to think of something, and there was another awkward bit of silence. A couple minutes later, I snapped my fingers and wrote on the back of my packet.

“What is it?” Lance asked.

“A trivia game about something.” I said quickly, and Lance looked at me funny.

“What do you mean?” 

“We could do some sort of trivia game, like a quiz or something.” I explained further. “For example, we could do a quiz about ourselves.” I laughed. “‘What was the name of Keith's first pet?’, For example.” 

Lance nodded, smiling a little bit. “That sounds great, but wouldn't we need to give people a warning before we do that?” 

I shrugged. “Sure, why not?” I pressed the countdown button and Lance's eyes widened. “Don't worry, you don't have to say anything.” He nodded, and the timer finished his countdown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot I named the chapters,,,,,,?  
> what evEn


	11. They Share One(1) Brain Cell I Swear-

“Welcome back to The Coffee Talk, where we talk about Coffee, Shoes, and all the latest news!” Lance smiled at the intro, and I smiled back at him.

“We're going to try something new today.” I said optimistically. “We're going to be doing a quiz today about ourselves in about an hour. There will be questions about us, and if someone calls in and gets an answer to one of those questions right, they earn points!” I was making full hand motions now, and I calmed myself down. 

“Whoever has the most points at the end is invited to the station to spend a day here and see what it's like behind the scenes!” Lance looked at me weird, and I motioned for him to relax. “Again, the contest is happening in about an hour, so be prepared and good luck to everyone participating!” With that I shut off my mic and swiveled in my chair. For whatever reason, I now had a bunch of pent-up energy.

“Oof.” Lance said, and I stopped my swiveling.

“Oof what?” I asked, smiling.

“I don't know.” He replied, and I laughed a little bit.

“Mm.” I hummed as I laughed again, and started turning in my chair again.

Lance put a hand on the back of the chair, stopping me.

“You're making me dizzy.” he said tiredly, and I apologized.

“No, it's okay, just-” he sighed. “I'm so tired.” He yawned and rubbed his face.

I hummed again. “Understandable.” I replied, remembering the night before. “You were up until about 2am.” He looked at me, his eyes wide again.

“Are you serious?” He took a deep breath and rested his head back on the chair. “Jesus Christ.” 

I laughed lightly. “Why, did you not see the time?” He shook his head.

“I barely remember falling asleep on the couch.” He stretched his arms out and covered his eyes. “Is that why I woke up in your room?”

I laughed incredulously. “You don't remember coming into my room?” he shrugged.

“I remember bits and pieces, but not all of it.” He groaned and stretched completely, then got up to lay on the floor. “I remember talking, and I remember you had some sort of stringed instrument, but I don't really remember what we were talking about or what you were doing.” He stretched again, making the shirt he was borrowing look even smaller than it already was. “It was something about your mom? I remember that much.” 

I nodded. “Yeah, we were talking about how my mom died, because you asked me about the song I was playing on my ukulele.” 

He looked at me funny, and I re-explained.

“I told you how I wrote it after she died, so you asked me about what happened.” I sat back in my chair. “You were really nice about it, don't worry.” 

Lance nodded, his eyes now closed. “I'm sorry.” He said.

“You're okay, it's no big deal.” I replied, and he didn't respond for awhile.

 

Lance sat up and looked towards me. “We should probably get started on those trivia questions.” He suggested.

“How did I already forget about that?” I replied, grabbing a piece of paper and a pen.

I turned to Lance, pen in hand. “What should the first question be?” 

Lance shrugged. “Maybe something about the station? Like 'how long has The Coffee Talk been a radio show?’ or something like that.”

I thought for a minute, and then snapped my fingers as I got an idea. “Our first question could be 'how did we come up with the name, 'The Coffee Talk?’’”

Lance nodded and pointed at the paper. “Write it down?” He half asked, half said.

“Absolutely.” I agreed. “Now, number two.”

Lance laughed. “What's Lance's full name?”

I did a double take, realizing that even I didn't remember Lance's full name. “Wait, what is your full name?”

“Are you serious?” Lance asked me incredulously. “We've known each other for almost four years and you don't know my full name?” 

I swiveled in my chair to face him, just now realizing how long we'd been working together. “To be fair, we never really talked much before now; it was always work related stuff.” I then scoffed, trying to hide a laugh. “And besides, I'm pretty sure you have a few more last names than the average person..”

He scoffed back. “Not even!” He argued, so I smirked at him. 

“Fine, then what is it?” 

He smiled proudly as he spoke. “Alejandro Carlos Ramirez McClain-Serrano.”

I looked at him with a look of exasperation on my face, and he laughed.

“I'm kidding, I'm kidding. That's my name minus the 'Carlos Ramirez’ part.”

“So your name is Alejandro McClain-Serrano?” I asked confusedly.

He smiled, his laughter subsiding. “Yep!” He answered, and I wrote that down under the question.

“Since I'm writing down answers, do you think I should write down the answer for number one?” I asked, and he nodded.

“Sure, why not?” He replied, and I scribbled down the answer.

He looked over at the piece of paper. “Okay, two questions down, how many more to go?” He asked. 

I shrugged. “Maybe ten or so?” 

“Ten sounds good.” 

I nodded. “What should number three be?” I asked.

“What's Keith's full name?” He replied. “Also, how is the points system gonna work?”

I laughed at his suggestion. “My full name isn't anything special, for one.” I wrote down the question. “And two, I don't know. I was thinking about ten points for each question; if they get it completely right, ten points. Half credit is five, and if they get it wrong it's zero points.”

Lance nodded. “Sounds good to me.” He replied, and looked at the paper again. “Aren't you going to write the answer down for number three?” He asked, and I smirked.

“Yeah, why? Do you know the answer?” I asked him.

“Sure I do!” He replied. “Keith Kogane, right?” 

I crossed my arms and leaned back in the chair, still smirking. “Yeah, but now what's my middle name?” I asked him.

He furrowed his brows, and started guessing random names.

I laughed as he got every guess wrong. 

“Lee?”

“Nope. Try again.”

“Fredrick?” 

“You're never gonna guess it.”

“Rikken?”

“Rikken?” I laughed. “What the Hell- why would my middle name be Rikken?”

“I don't know!” He exclaimed defensively. “It was the first thing that came to mind!”

“Third, you mean?”

“Whatever.” He pretended to flip a nonexistent ponytail.

I ran a hand through my hair and rested my arm against the table as he guessed more names. “Can I just tell you?” I asked, and he nodded scornfully.

“Fine, I guess.” He pouted. “What is it?”

“You won't believe me.”

“Just tell me!”

“Okay fine, it's Yorak.” I said sarcastically, not wanting to answer his question. 

He didn't get the joke. “Yorak?” He asked slowly.

“Yep.” I replied, seeing if he'd fall for it.

He pondered for a moment, and then exclaimed, “‘Nothing special,’ my ass!” He threw his arms out, almost hitting me in the process. “Rikken is a more common name than that!”

I choked slightly on a suppressed laugh and replied, “You wouldn't think so if it was your name!” 

“YeAH, sure.” 

there was a small silence until Lance spoke again.

“I totally would've guessed it at some point.”

I shot him a look of disbelief. “Oh really?”

“With a couple more guesses, sure!”

I shook my head, his words further backing my calling him a child. 

“Lance, I doubt you've ever heard the name before in your life!”

“How do you know?” He asked, and I shook my head again.

“Lance. What parent names their kid Yorak?” I asked seriously. At this point, I was trying to make him realize I was kidding.

His face turned red as he stifled laughter. “Yours, apparently.” 

He started cracking up as he said it, and I shook my head. My reaction only made him laugh harder.

“Seriously though, Yorak?” He asked after he stopped laughing.

“Sure.” I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that he still believed me.

“Well, jeez.” Lance was still smiling as he continued the conversation. 

There was a long pause after he spoke. Neither of us knew what to talk about, so we just didn't talk.

All the sudden, I heard Lance humming quietly to a familiar song.

“Sing a song/ Dance a dance/ I gave your friends all a chance-”

We sang in unison as I joined in, realizing what song he was singing.

“Putting up with them wasn't worth it/ but having you/”

Lance smiled brightly as we both sang.

“And maybe you've been through this before/ but it's my first time so please ignore/ the next few lines ‘cuz they're directed at you”

Lance stopped singing. I felt my face go red as I sang out the next few bars, and then I stopped as well.

“You know Jack Johnson?” he asked incredulously, his eyes wide with surprise.

“Of course I do!” I nodded, smiling. “Who doesn't?”

“A lot of people.” he put his arms behind his head and leaned back in the chair. 

“True.” I replied.

Lance sat up, grabbing the pen gracefully from my hand. He scribbled a question on the paper, and I read it out loud.

“What are Keith and Lance's favorite bands.” I nodded approvingly. “I like that.” 

Lance beamed and wrote down his answer. As soon as he finished, I stole the pen back and wrote mine.

“My Chemical Romance? Seriously?” 

I scoffed. “They make good music!” I defended.

“You mean made?” he toyed, and I nudged him with the back of my hand again.

“Still.” I tapped the pen to my face, thinking about the bands I listened to. After awhile, I changed it to a different band.

“Bastille?” Lance asked, not sounding more curious than critical.

“Yeah?” I replied. I wasn’t sure about the band, but I remembered that I could always go back to their music. I felt myself smile a little bit. “Yeah.”

Lance nodded thoughtfully. “They’re cool.” he said distantly, seemingly lost in thought. “I used to listen to them a lot a couple years ago.” 

I acknowledged his comment with a barely noticeable nod, not knowing what to say. 

Lance re read his answer and smiled, and me, being curious, read it.

“Who’s Mike Posner?” I asked. “That doesn't even sound like a band.”

“He's not, I don't think.” Lance shrugged. “He's the one who did 'Cooler Than Me’?” he suggested.

I shrugged, not knowing what he was talking about.

“I'll play it on the air, you'll probably recognize it if I play it.”

I raised my eyebrows and nodded.

Lance hummed the tune, and I closed my eyes to listen.

He started singing the words, getting slightly louder.

“You never say 'Hey’ or remember my name yeah/ it's probably 'cuz you think you're cooler than me.” he exaggerated the guitar line with his voice, and then hummed a few more measures of the song, and then I recognized it.

“I'm pretty sure Shiro had that as his ringtone at one point.” I said, trying to remember clearly where I had heard the song before. The tune was familiar, and as a few more seconds played I remembered suddenly where I had heard it.

Lance gave me a look as I gasped in revelation. 

“It was Adam's ringtone, not Shiro's.” I explained, partially to Lance buy mostly to myself. “I thought it was Shiro because Adam had that set as Shiro's contact.”

Lance smirked. “Adam sounds like an interesting character.” he said strangely, in almost a sing-song tone.

I gave him a glance. I had been staring outside for a good minute. 

“You okay?” I asked, checking in.

“Hmm?” He murmured absentmindedly. He registered what I had said and whipped his head towards me. A bright smile went over his face as he answered, “Yeah, I'm good.” His smile slowly faded into a more relaxed expression. “Just tired, I guess.” 

“Mm.” I leaned back and spun around in my chair. “I know how you feel.” 

We sat in silence, and I realized we still had questions to figure out. I looked at the clock. We had been working for 45 minutes, and we were on air in less than fifteen.

“Shit!” I grabbed my pen and started tapping again, trying to think of something. Lance sat up and hunched over the table.

“We could go with pet names or something.” He suggested.

“That seems kinda lame though,” I gently shot down the idea. 

“Well, what about something more personal?” He raised an eyebrow. “What was the name of Keith's first girlfriend?” he moved his arms in a wide half circle as he asked the question.

After a few awkward seconds he put his hands down and stuttered, “Wait- shit.” He stammered a few apologies and I laughed.

“No no no don't be sorry!” I laughed. “It doesn't matter.” 

He rested his head in both his hands, laughing. “I'm a dumbass.” he cracked up.

“No you're not-” as I was trying to argue against his claim, one of his hands slipped and his head dropped against the table.

“Gah!” he yelled out, and we both started laughing.

“Never mind?” I suggested jokingly, and he covered his face with his arm in embarrassment.

I leaned down to where I could see his face, some residual laughter still bubbling from my chest.

“You okay?” I asked, and he lifted his head, rubbing it with his finger tips.

“I dunno man.” he said sarcastically. “It was a pretty hard hit, I don't think I'm gonna-” he dramatically flopped against the table, pretending to be dead.

I laughed again, and he sat up.

“I'm just screwing around, my head's fine.” he laughed.

We both turned to the clock and saw that five minutes had gone by.

Lance sat up and cleared his throat. “How many pets has Keith had in his life?”

I gave Lance a look. “Why is everything about pets?” I joked.

“I can't think of anything else!” he argued. “My imagination is very limited.” 

I remembered the steam he was blowing out of his mouth earlier when we were walking outside from the bakery. “I seriously doubt that.” 

“I don't.” he said and started scribbling on the paper.

“We have to come up with two questions in-” I glanced back at the clock. “-seven minutes.”

Lance tapped the pen against his face. “What was the first color that I dyed my hair?” he suggested. I scribbled it down, and then did a double take.

“You dyed your hair?” I asked in disbelief.

Lance nodded regretfully. “Indeed I did.” he laughed. “Maybe if you're nice I'll send you pictures later.”

I blinked. “Send?”

Lance nodded again. “Well, yeah.” He stopped. “Wait, do I even have your number?” he asked himself and immediately checked his phone. When he typed my name, nothing came up.

“How have we been working together for almost four years and neither of us have each other's number?” I wondered out loud, and Lance shrugged.

He exaggeratedly handed me his phone.

“May I have the honor of receiving your number?” he asked in a fake accent I didn't recognize.

I sighed exasperatedly and smiled, typing my number into the keypad. As he got his phone back, he beamed.

“You want mine?” he asked, and I shrugged.

“Sure, why not?” I handed him my phone.

“Hang on, your password-” he turned on my phone and swiped up, surprised when the phone unlocked.

I smirked. “I don't have one.” I said, and helped him find my contacts.

“I realized that.” he laughed and typed his number. I saved his contact, just typing his name.

I watched as he typed my contact, which read, “Emo kid from work.”

I scoffed. “I'm not emo?” 

He turned to look at me. “You have emo hair and you listen to emo music.” I tried to argue, but he went on. “And you wear all black.”

“I haven't worn all black since high school!” I exclaimed, and he cackled.

“I'm not changing it.” he said stubbornly, and I sighed.

“Fine, then yours is gonna be…” I thought for a second, and then typed quickly as a name came to mind.

“Sharpshooter?” he asked, and I nodded.

He looked at me weird. “Why sharpshooter?”

I thought for a minute. “I don't know, it was the first thing that came to mind.”

“But why?” Lance persisted.

I huffed and changed it to “Complete Child from work”

Lance leaned over to look at the contact. “You said that was a good thing!” he exclaimed, and I laughed.

“So? That doesn't mean I'm not allowed to make it your contact.” I edited the contact picture to one of a cartoon shark.

Lance smiled. “Sharks are cool.” 

I agreed, although I didn't say it out loud. He quickly changed his contact picture to some sort of fluffy animal.

“What is that?” I asked him. He looked over at me, trying to hide a smile.

“It's a cat.” He replied sweetly, and shut off his phone.

“Why?” I asked, looking at the clock. We now had about five minutes until we were on air.

“'Cuz… um…” he blanked for minute, and then answered cautiously, “You remind me of a cat.”

I looked at him strangely. “I'm a dog person, why do I remind you of a cat?” 

He continued to talk slowly, seeming to think about his words before he said them. “I don't know.” He finally decided, and he didn't go on. I nodded and looked back at the clock.

Three minutes.


	12. Round One Of Their Disasterfest

I panicked slightly, trying to think of a question. Lance saw my panic and put a hand on my shoulder.

“Hey man, relax.” He said. “We don't have to get all of them done right now.”

“What d'ya mean?”

He snapped his fingers and smiled at me. “We can do it in rounds. We just have to think of one more question about you.”

I thought hard about figuring out a question.

“What was the worst class I ever had in school?” 

Lance shrugged. “That would work?” It was more of a question than a statement, but I wrote it down anyway.

“I have so many stories about it.” I replied as I wrote the answer.

Lance glanced at the countdown. “Five, four three two-” he pressed the applause button and laughed cheerfully. 

“Congratulations to us for getting half the questions we wanted thought up!” He said sarcastically. I felt my face get hot as he said it, but I laughed with him.

“We've decided to do this game in rounds.” Lance continued. “We're doing five questions now, and then in another hour we'll be doing the other five.” 

He pointed to me, so I continued with the points system.

“The way the points work is if you get the answer right, it's ten points, half credit is five, and if you get it wrong… well then it's zero.” Lance smiled and I went on. “The person with the most points by the end of the game gets to come to the station and spend a day behind the scenes!” 

I hated the prize, considering the last few days we'd had, but I tried to tell myself it wouldn't be bad.

Lance pressed the button to list all the rules and regulations, and after it was over he did the into to our game.

“Okay, so now that we've gone over the rules, it's time for some questions!” he made it sound super exciting; almost overly so. He asked the first question.

“How did the Coffee Talk get it's name?” 

A few seconds went by, and then the phone rang. I picked up.

“Hi and welcome to the Coffee Talk, where we talk about Coffee, Shoes, and all the Latest News. Who do we have the privilege of speaking to this fine day?"

A young voice answered Lance. "Hi, my name's Lori."

Lance smiled kindly. "Hello Lori, and where are you calling from?"

"Altea." Lori replied sweetly.

"Altea, huh?" Lance said. "We don't get too many calls from there nowadays."

"Huh, weird." Lori laughed.

Lance laughed as well, "Weird indeed." His smile faded into a small grin as he continued speaking in his host voice.

"So, Lori, do you have an answer for us?"

The girl hesitated. "Um, I think so?" 

Lance chuckled. "Well, take your best guess if you're not sure." 

Lori mumbled into the receiver.

"Didn't quite catch that, what was it?" Lance asked politely.

"Wasn't it a game or something you guys liked?"

Lance clicked his tongue. "Not quite, Lori, not quite, but you're close!" Lance's expression turned almost pitiful at the girl's loss. "Maybe next time."

"Okay, thank you." Lori said brightly, despite the letdown.

"Of course!" Lance quipped back just as lively. "Better luck next time!" He said reassuringly.

"Thank you." Lori said, and ended the call.

Lance set down the receiver, and we made eye contact. I pointed to the phone.

"She was a pretty good sport." I said.

Lance smiled. "Definitely." He said.

"Kudos to her." I said as the phone rang again.

I picked it up this time. "Hi and welcome to The Coffee Talk, do you have an answer for us?"

"Yeah, I think I do." Said the voice on the other end. The person sounded oddly familiar, so I asked for a name.

"I'm Matt, I'm calling from Olkari." 

I nodded. "Well, Matt, can you tell us how we got the name for the show?"

I could hear Matt's smirking over the line. "I sure can." He said cockily.

I raised my eyebrows, and watched as Lance's eyes glared a minuscule amount. 

"Well, go ahead then." I laughed.

"It was from an old television channel called, 'Coffee and Tea TV,'" He said confidently. 

"Is that so?" I asked, and he approved his answer.

"Well Matt, you'd be right about that one." I said, and he made a quiet "Yes!" Through the phone.

"Keep track of your points, and make sure you're there to approve them once we round them all up. Matt, ten points to you."

"Thank you!" Matt said. "You're so beautiful!"

I was taken back by the compliment, and I stumbled over my next words.

"Thanks, you too," I stammered, "Congratulations."

"Thanks!" He exclaimed, and ended the call.

I set the phone down.

Lance's glare became more apparent as he sat in bitter silence.

I shut off my mic. "Lance, you okay?"

He nodded silently, his face relaxing slightly.

"Alright everyone, next question." Lance announced, and I switched my mic back on.

The game continued as it had, with lots of people calling in and asking questions, and nothing super eventful happened until we hit question three.

"And the next question is: What is Keith's full name?" Lance asked teasingly.

I rolled my eyes at his shenanigans, and he laughed.

A few people called in and didn't know, and then we get a familiar number.

"Hi, do you know the answer?" Lance asked cheerily.

"Yep!" Matt's voice rang over the air.

Lance's eyes went darker as he heard it, but he hid his attitude from his voice.

"Alrighty then, what do you think it is?" Lance asked.

"Keith Allen Kogane." Matt said.

Lance smiled. "Sorry Matt, unfortunately that's-"

"That's correct." I interrupted, smirking.

Lance's jaw dropped, and he furrowed his brows. I continued talking, not letting him say something stupid.

"Ten points to you, congratulations once again, Matt."

"Thank you." He said calmly, and the line clicked.

Lance shut off his mic. "What do you mean he was right?!" His face was red, and not in a good way.

"We'll be right back everyone, we're having some technical difficulties." I shut off my mic as well.

Lance's eyes were side, as well as his stance.

"I figured I'd mess with you for awhile, since you messed around with me as well."

Lance scoffed. "I didn't leave you hanging like that?!" His voice raised.

"No, I got the satisfaction of doing it to you instead." I smiled sweetly.

"Keith!!" He cried exasperatedly.

"Lance, you're okay." I said, trying to calm him down through my laughter. "I'm surprised you couldn't tell I was joking."

"You were joking??" His voice cracked.

"Lance…" I took a breath and shook my head, laughing.

"What?" His voice hadn't come back down yet from cracking earlier, so he still sounded high pitched.

"...I'm worried for what's left of your sanity." I teased.

He scoffed. "Look who's talking, Yorak!" He flopped down into his chair and covered both his eyes with his hands. "I swear, you're going to be the death of me."

I laughed, tucking my hair behind my headset. As Lance kept griping, I switched my mic back on.

"Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Coffee Talk." I said professionally.


	13. A Really Small Filler Chapter

The game continued; we finished round one and came up with the questions for round two, without any inconveniences or delays. Lance and I shared our laughs, and unfortunately for him, Matt ended up winning the game. 

We scheduled for him to come to the station the next day to verify his points, and then arranged for him to stay on one of our less busy days, which ended up being the next upcoming Wednesday.

After all the phone calls and off-air conversations had taken place, Lance sat up from his slouched position in his chair.

“Do you want to go out for lunch again?” He asked calmly, despite his apparent irritance to the situation.

“You mean, can we afford to eat out again?” I corrected.

He scoffed, trying to hide a smile. “If you can’t pay for lunch, I can.”

I shook my head around a mutual laughter. “No, you’re fine, I was mostly joking.” I thought about yesterday. “It’s a good thing we bought thing to share, though.” I remarked.

“Agreed.” he nodded. “We should do that again.”

I nodded, and we grabbed our jackets and set off.

**Author's Note:**

> I got the idea of Keith accidentally coming out from a YouTube channel called MacDoesIt... Basically I kinda stole his coming out story and incorporated it into my story, so major credit and Kudos to him!!
> 
> Also, credit to my friend for coming up with the name The Coffee Talk! We used to pretend we were on a radio show, and I loved the name!
> 
> And another thank you to my friend, who helped me with the Spanish translations when Google translate wasn't working!


End file.
